Scratch the Nikkster.
There are plenty of “moments” in presidential campaigns, most of them in the primary season, when candidates say something so stupid that it makes it impossible for them to recover. It may not happen overnight, but the phrase Dead Man Walking becomes appropriate.
Or in this case, Dead Woman Walking.
Former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley had been making progress establishing herself as the No. 1 alternative to Donald Trump — until a campaign appearance in New Hampshire Wednesday night. A voter asked her what she thought had been the cause of the Civil War, and for some bizarre reason, she didn’t say slavery.
“I think the cause of the Civil War was basically how government was going to run — the freedoms and what people could and couldn’t do,” she said. “I mean, I think it all comes down to the role of government.
“We need to have capitalism. We need to have economic freedom. We need to make sure that we do all things so that individuals have the liberties so that they can have freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom to do or be anything they want to be without government getting in the way.”
Perhaps the perfect answer to appeal to Trumpanzees, but the voter responded that he was shocked she didn’t mention the word “slavery.”
“What do you want me to say about slavery?” Haley asked. “Next question.”
The part that has received less publicity may be the part that will make it truly impossible for her to overcome her gaffe. In clarifying her remarks later, Haley said she believes the Civil War was “sparked” by slavery but that the “bigger issue” was determining the role of government in people’s lives.
She is either very stupid or very dishonest.
Read southern writings at the time. Nothing mattered to the Southern states except slavery, both in their home states and the ability to expand it into the territories. The Confederate constitution banned member states from abolishing slavery.
There were no income taxes then. In fact, government played almost no role in average people’s lives, either helpful or restrictive.
Most people who know American history know this, although the Civil War started 108 years before Haley’s familycame to this country as immigrants, first from India and then from Canada.
So she isn’t going to be president, leaving just Ron “Kinky Boots” DeSantis, Vivek Ramaswamy and Chris Christie as alternatives to Trump.
Quite a year ahead of us.